Of course, our DirecTV bagged out on us around 8:00 PM. Dink almost had a stroke. Thankfully, we have a stockpile of books and DVDs to keep her entertained in the absence of her beloved Sprout channel. I don't care - I'd rather go without any TV than switch back to Comcast Cable.

Did anyone else here the thunder booming around 6 or 7 in the AM? I saw the flashes in my sleep and opened my eyes in time to hear the thunder. This happened a couple of times. Then I passed back out again.

I was going to do this post in my Wordpress site, but their photo uploader is not the most friendly. You can't upload from your hardrive. They insist on a URL address. So, you have to upload your photos on the net somewhere like Flickr. Not that it's a huge deal since I upload them on Flickr anyway. Still, Blogger, for all of its foibles, has a lot positives over Wordpress - positives that really count.

The photo at our upper left was taken from my porch looking south. That red Jimmy is how Geo and our neighbor will be getting to work tomorrow and probably for the duration of the week. No, Geo's new truck is worthless in this weather - it's a 2x4. That only spells out fishtail city in winter conditions such as this.

The photo on the right is a view of our driveway ... well, half of it. The vehicle in the back is Geo's Silverado. The one on the foreground is my Saturn L200. With snow included, both vehicles are double their height. I was trying to capture the size of the snow drifts (which more like fjords if you ask me).And it's friggin c-c-c-o-l-d out thar! The blowing snow didn;t help matters. But it's winter time so what the hell should one expect, palm trees? Hence, we were all dressed for the occasion.

Now, I couldn't take a picture of me without looking like a total dork. I'll just tell you I was wearing my elegant Cabela's yellow winter ski parka with my -70 Pac Boots. I was so dressed to kill!

Now that I was dressed for the occasion, I was able to take shots of the family. Here's Geo digging out the driveway. Isn't he a sweetie? I'd help him, but oh darn, there is only one snow shovel. I think it's time to get a snow blower. I should have purchased one in the beginning of week when Lowes and Home Depot were practically giving them away.

And of course, here is the newly dubbed Queen of the Whole Universe. She is dressed so spiffy in her Dora Princess coat with faux fur collar and cuffs. Topping off the ensemble is her multi-color fleece hat, dark green scarf, light green knit mittens (which were insulated), and her pink/silver snow boots. I know you can't see the boots - trust me, the child was wearing boots.

She thought being out in the snow was pretty cool. Ten minutes later, after a big ole gust of wind slapped her in the face with a bunch of drifting snow, she had enough of the snow and wanted inside "NOW"! Not being the kind of mom to want to disappoint my child, we went back indoors, leaving Geo to shovel.

She was inside for all of thirty seconds when she told me she wanted to go back out. Thankfully, I had only taken off her hat and scarf and threw them in the laundry room (the hottest room in our home; hence, the drying room). Back on went the hat and scarf and back out went me and the child.

Geo was shovelling the porch now. As always, the Dinks wanted to help. Again, I am not the kind of mom to ever want to disappoint my pride and joy.

Hey, look folks, it's my old washer, still sitting in front of my house, even though I have contacted the Streets Dept to have it removed. I was scheduled last week for it's removal. I'm so glad I pay taxes for this service. Idiots.

Well, Geo is done shovelling. Since he did all the manual labor (and that was a lot), I guess I'll be nice and cook for him. One last shot before I go. It's a view of our neighborhood facing North. Yes, that is an old metal milk container on my porch. And yes, that is Christmas lights on my front porch awning. I told you I'm part redneck.

I would like to have a snow like that just once in Bella's childhood. Something to remember. We had 'em when I was a kid. *sigh* And dude, I have that identical milk jug. In my flower bed. With things growing out of it, and trailing vines spilling down. It's a thing of beauty. I also plant in old metal horse troughs, so there.

For real redneck flava, bring the defunct appliances right up onto the porch. Do not ever discuss or even mention them, as if they SHOULD be there.

Fran - I'll FedEx a snowball to ya. When you open it up, throw it up in the air and let it land on your head. How you are gonna retaliate in the snowball fight is beyond me. Good luck.

Kyah - Don't get me wrong, I love snow. If I had a better back, I'd go skiing or snowboarding. Now that Dink's is almost totally potty trained (fingers and toes crossing), Geo and I are gonna try getting out to the Poconos or Jack Frost Big Boulder for a little winter outdoor rec.

We got snow, too. I think the we got around 6" but areas around Columbia/Annapolis got around 17". I showed the girls the picture of your lonely washer and they laughed hysterically! Give Dinker a kiss for me.